Take a chance
by evelitan
Summary: Belle needs a hero, but who said that a beast cannot be also a hero? Because she is always her hero.


_Author note: Hello guys! I felt inspired by something and just started writing. I do NOT own any of the characters used below, I just use them in my fiction. I hope I don`t offend anyone, my aim is just to leave something interesting for reading, so please if you don`t like it, don`t read it. That said all reviews are welcome and I hope you enjoy it. Maybe it will be a sequence, but most probably it will be just a series of one-shots. This one is dedicated to RedBeauty. So, enjoy!_

I had never felt so scared before, I had never felt my hearth beating so furiously, I could sense the ground shanking under my feet from the closeness of the giant bear behind me. I felt as if I had seen that ginger stranger before, somewhere, but my thoughts rapidly faded away when I ran through the trees, gasping desperately for deeper breaths and longer strides. I hoped Rumple could save me, but then again, that is not in his nature, I should have known better than trying to change him still. He is a good man, but ultimately not a hero, so maybe it was time I meet my end with a little dignity. The world around me started spinning and my feet got tangled up in something and then I was flying to the ground. That was going to leave a mean bruise… if I survived first. Right then, out of nowhere and as if on cue, I heard another pair of thumping steps, they sounded heavy and yet they were approaching rapidly. My hearth suddenly felt warm and for no reason I started feeling even more nervous. I hoped it wasn`t Maleficent having transformed herself in a dragon, I didn`t need to get out of one trap, just to get into another. Not again at least. Here in Sotrybrook we didn`t have shortage of people transforming themselves, and that is when I heard it … a deep, low grumble. When I turned, I saw a wolf, much bigger than the normal ones and with much thicker fur, it could have easily been as tall as the bear`s belly. The moment I saw its grassy eyes I knew it was Ruby, I could never forget her eyes and I felt relieved, for the first time in a very long time I felt calm washing over me and hope, hope that was inspired by those beautiful green eyes. Its sharp teeth were almost shining, impatiently waiting for the battle to begin and with one leap it landed before me. I moved as far away from the two beasts as possible, but I couldn`t just leave there my best friend and that stranger that actually wasn`t even responsible for their actions. The bear launched forward roaring and attacking my friend with its paws, but she quickly managed to get away with just a few scratches just before she attacked back and bit the arm of her opponent. The fight continued with more strikes, roars and grumbles, it was as if two of the most powerful forces of nature had met for a sparring competition. Trees were broken, bites were exchanged, scratches and hits were given freely and I felt paralyzed from the helplessness that I was feeling. After a few more attacks Ruby managed to bite the bear harder on the neck and it hit her hard, sending her on the ground and turning away quickly, running away, running for her life, trying to escape. That was my cue to run rapidly to Ruby, she took quite the beating from Merida and I felt terribly guilty. I stopped talking to her before, knowing how much she was hurting, thinking that I was protecting her from a bigger pain, but now I regret every choice I made for her. I was always complaining how people would choose _for_ me and not give me the power to choose _for_ myself and I ended up doing the same thing to someone very dear to me. How could I have hurt so much someone that I just wanted to protect in the first place? Anyhow, that wasn`t important now, what`s done is done, now she needed help and yet before I could reach her, she stood up and ran to shadows of the trees surrounding us that weren`t damaged by the fight earlier.

"You don`t have to hide Ruby, I could recognize those eyes anywhere." – I said softly with trembling voice.

I wanted to see her and I wanted to talk to her, tell her how much I missed her, but maybe I didn`t have that right. Just when I was beginning to lose hope of seeing her again, I heard lighter footsteps approaching me from the forest. Her long, dark, curly hair was gently hugging her shoulders and she seemed even more beautiful that before. The red color of her robes didn`t permit to see how badly she was actually hurt, but I knew that with all the punches and bites she took on during the fight she wasn`t feeling well at all. She stepped slowly and flinching ever so slightly with every step she made towards me, finally stopping just an inch from me and collapsing in my arms. I couldn`t just leave her there, but I couldn`t carry her completely on my own either. We stayed together, just holding closely one another. I could smell her, she always smelled like raspberries and vanilla, but this time there was a faint metallic smell of freshly opened, bleeding wounds. I think the time actually stopped for the two of us and if it wasn`t for the roar we heard coming from somewhere around us, we could`ve stayed like that forever.

"Come on Ruby, we should get out of here. " – I said gently holding her closely and urging her to move, slowly, but without stopping.

We somehow managed to get to my apartment right above the library, I had moved there again and I was enjoying sorting out my life until I started worrying about Rumple again. I didn`t want him to die. However, he was out of the town again and I had the strangest feeling of dejà vú of the situatiom, but my attention focused quickly and my friend again, my hero, she was fighting for her life yet again. I laid her gently on the bed and went to take a bowl of water and a fresh cloth to clean some of her wounds, that was the least I could do for the one who saved me…again. She saved my life and she saved my mind, by showing me loyalty, friendship and teaching me how to look innocently at the world again. Many people mistake innocence for being naïve, but the first one just meant that having seen and felt the push of the darkness one didn`t gave in, one didn`t begin blaming the world, but continued to see the beauty in it. The latter just meant that one was foolish for wanting and expecting something impossible.

I started unbuttoning the red cloak and I noticed the cuts on her arms, her torso… She was quite messed up, so I started unbuttoning her shirt also. I had to clean the wounds, so I started examining their depth and fortunately just a few were deep enough to worry me. However, I saw the bite mark the bear had left her just where the lower part of the neck meets the shoulder, that seemed deep and it was still bleeding. I quickly turn my attention to it first and took the now wet cloth and pressed it hard to her skin. That made her hiss in pain and her eyes reddened with unshed tears.

"I am so, so sorry Ruby. "– was the only thing I could whisper to her. I was close enough to her and with her exceptional hearing there was no need to speak louder.

"I`m just glad you`re okay Belle." – she tried smiling to me, but her once radiant smile was now full of pain and suffering, and yet it was gentle and suiting. I sensed her hand moving to caress my cheek and she traced softly one of the lock of my hair, putting it in place behind my ear.

Her had felt so hot, burning even, or maybe it was just the emotion of her touch. I was not accustomed to touches. I spend a good deal of time being prisoner or trying to save the person I loved from the people around us at first and from himself after that. It didn`t leave a lot of time for touches. Even though I am still colder than most people and prefer to evade the physical contact, her touch felt incredibly good and in a second I got addicted to the feeling it created in me. She was caressing my face and I had begun leaning closer to her, I was so close that I could sense her soft breathing. I cannot say which one was the first to reach and capture the other`s lips, but the fact remains all the same. The kiss was shy and gentle at first, with no dominance whatsoever. It was innocent and pure and my heart felt as if it was going to burst from happiness. That feeling was very new to me, but seeing the smile on her lips when we separated just to catch some air, made me realize that maybe I had waited way too long to do that. Of course we would have to talk about this and much more stuff, but for now cleaning her wounds and making sure she was safe and well-tended for was a top priority. Having each other around was just (a very important) added bonus.


End file.
